| Harking back to "stock
footage fests" of yore like The Bugs
Bunny/Road Runner Movie, Toho’s The
Gransazers: Super Battle Memory is sadly
one of the more slapdash movies from the
company, possibly ever. Where as the Justirisers
release at this same time, also with the “Super
Battle Memory” suffix, was merely an interview
session with the cast, it was decided that
the
Gransazers feature would actually be
a narrative story and another entry in the canon
of the series. Bringing back director Hiromi
Munemoto, responsible for the first episode
of the show along with numerous others, and
longtime series writers Toshimichi Okawa and
Hakase Ishii, Toho seems to have at least kept
this feature in good hands. Unfortunately, the
movie plays out like a bad “clip show”,
featuring a weak storyline to connect it all,
while not allowing characters or acting to make
any sort of impression and, to add insult to
injury, features a stock soundtrack that rounds
out this disappointing endeavor by the company.
In terms of plot, the movie starts
out with Tenma Kudo checking his cell phone,
while in the midst of reminiscing about his
past adventures, as he receives a mysterious
text message. Word spreads as Tenma and the
other Sazers, along with Archaeologist Ichiro
Horiguchi, meet at the designated location fearing
the worst. As it turns out, though, the message
was merely from Taippei Mikami who has arranged
a surprise party for the group. However, the
festivities are cut short by a noise outside
as everyone rushes out to witness the Cloud
Dragon's return to Earth, as the Gransazers'
powers are needed once again.
If the story sounds simplistic,
short and corny, that's because it is. Normally,
at least on the more recent reviews, I try to
leave out spoilers. However, in this case there
isn’t enough of a story to do otherwise
as the movie is, literally, about 85% stock
footage from the show. The movie does have
a purpose, though, beyond being a vehicle for
a reunion of the principal characters, as it
does establish the return of the Sazers, who
disbanded and went into a, more or less, forced “retirement” at
the end of episode 51 when the Cloud Dragon
left the planet. Unfortunately, the film does
little to work with this concept, as the flying
mech is literally brought into the story in
the final two minutes and the film cuts out
just as the Sazers are transforming. So yes,
to make it clear, they stay in their normal “form” throughout
the duration of the movie, minus the overdose
of reminiscing ala stock footage that is occurring.
Now I can imagine, this being
a direct-to-video release, that the production
was likely given a miniscule budget; however,
I don’t
think it's too much to ask for at least
something that could be comparable to a regular
episode from the show. As it stands, this movie
is the worst thing in the continuity of the
series, even surpassing the show's own
clip show episode, 25.
This disappointing too as there was
potential for some interesting storylines here,
especially considering that the Bosquito, an
enemy from the show, are the main adversaries
in Super
Fleet Sazer-X the Movie: Fight! Star Soldiers (2005).
No such luck, though, and considering that
the new footage amounts to little more than
around 10 minutes, this whole story could easily
have been placed inside the Sazer-X feature
without much work, and would have done wonders
to pad out the theatrical film's very
short running time of only 70 minutes (the
same as this movie). However, no dice, as
this narrative is left to stand on its own
with horrendous results.
In regards to character development,
well there really isn't enough new material
here to write anything about in lengths. Yes,
it's nice to see the crew from the show
back again, but they don't get to do
much, even taking into consideration the dismal
amount of new footage present. The most disappointing
aspect, though, is that almost nothing, save
a throwaway line, is done to reflect on the
relationship of Naoto Matsuzaka and Ryoko
Amemiya, especially since this is the first
time the audience has seen the pair since
their marriage at the end of the show. Even
when together the movie keeps interaction
between the two to a minimum, as if their
relationship hadn't changed at all
since before the final episode of the show. Even
more unfortunate, though, is that despite
appearing prominently on the cover Logia does
not appear in this movie outside of stock
footage. Something which is sure to disappoint
a number of fans considering that for many
he was the best aspect of the series.
Of course, given the lack of material
to work with, it should come as no surprise that
the acting performances do little to stand out.
In fact, a few of the recurring cast members don’t
seem particularly excited to be working on the
movie either, although at least this doesn’t
lead to any cringe worthy moments. It’s
interesting to see how the cast has changed, physically,
since the show’s closure in 2003, though.
A lot of the actors, for example, have a great
deal more hair or have changed hair color since
the show’s run, particularly Hideaki Serizawa
and Soji Masaki, the latter of which is guaranteed
to make any fan of the show do a double take the
first time they see him.
As for the music, Yasuharu Takanashi's
themes are, as always, energetic and pleasant,
as is the title song by U-Ya Asaoka and Eddy
Blues; however, it’s all stock here without
anything new for the movie to tout about. Now
granted, the same could be said of most episodes
in the show as well, so I guess one can’t
complain too much as Takanashi’s music
certainly does liven up the material a little.
Although, at the same time, it certainly would
have been nice to see some new themes from the
composer to try and make this feature at least
a little less forgettable.
In closing, even “true fans”
of the show are better off skipping this movie.
It’s nice to see the cast together again,
but this feature gives them little to work with
and is a wasted effort at bringing any sort of
meaning to this reunion event that had so much
potential following the two year gap since the
show’s finish.
|
(0.5/5)